Island



W. D. MOUNT.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING CYANID.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 4 1918.

Patented Feb. 3, 1920 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

lhvenfr W. D. MOUNT.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING CYANID.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 4. I918.

Patented Feb. 3,1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

jwiniiiaiu I). MOUNT, or snLrvILLn, VIRGINIA, AssIeNon TO nrrnoonn rnonuo'rs COMPANY, or rnovrnnnon, nnoton ISLAND, A CORPORATION or nnonn IsLaNn.

Original application filed April 26,1918,

T0 all whom it may-concern:

Be it knownthat I, l VILLIAM D. M UNT, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Saltville, in the county of Smyth and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful lmproyenients in Processes of'Produc- 'ing Gyanid, Of which the following is a said materials to effect the fixation oi said. nitrogen.

p the objects of said invention is to induce a regulated flow of reaction matee/ne of rials through-a retort or the like to the end that proper reaction conditions may be maintained in said retort; so that the procass, as a whole, may be elfectuated ina bettermanner than was found possible previous to the development or" the present process and the apparatu whereby it ,may be effectuated. 7 r

These and other objects of my invention:

will be hereinafter referred to and the novel combinations of steps andieaturesoi my process, whereby saidobjects may, be at-' tained will be more particularly pointed out ill the appended claims.

In one of its aspects my invention concerns an improvement uponv the apparatus shown in the patent to John E. Bucher, No. 1,120,682, dated December15, 191-1, in which a furnace is shown, through a retort in which a column of briquetedmaterial is fed .by gravity while a. current of nltrogen or ceous material and sodium carbonate 'lor like in the charge, to form, for example, sod1um cyanid.

Iii-operating furnaces of this description, however, cons1derable diificulty has been en- Specification of Letters Patent.

PROCESS 0E PRODUCING CYANID.

Patented Feb. 3, 1920.

Serial No. 230,876. Divided and this application filed October 4, 1918. Serial No. 257,314.

countered in removing the cyanized material from the retort, owing to the binding property-of the cyanid-formed. V

The charge while passing through the heat zone of the apparatus acquires a high content of cyanid, and when the cyanized mass passes into the cooling zone below, the eyanid hardens, with the result that the charge, initially supplied in pieces or preferably in the form of briquets, is united into 7 a fairly solid column; the cyanid'acting as a binder .to unite the briquets whereverthey make contact with each other.

This column is, ofcourse, filled with interstices when the operation is properly conducted; andthe passage of nitrogen up therethrough is hence not materially hindered.

It is sufliciently rigid and strong, however, to oiier a problem as how best to disintegrate it without too severely jarring the retort, since heavy continuous vibration obviously tends to shorten the life of the apparatus. r

It is also desirable not to, unnecessarily pulverize the cyanizedmaterial on account of objection to such powder duringsubseiquent operations. The apparatusshown in the. drawings fulfilsthe'se requirements and enables the effectuation of the herein I described process in a particularly desirable way. These drawings will, accordingly, now be considered in some detail. I

In said drawings which form parts hereof and in which like reference characters designate like parts in the respective views, I have'shown a preferred embodiment of my invention; but as I am aware of various changes and modifications which maybe madeherein and; in the process eiiectuated from the spirito'f said invention, I desire to ,belimited only by the scopefof the claims,

broadly interpreted in the light of disclosure. .7

Referring-to the drawingszv ml igure 1 1s a side elevation of my im- "proved cyanizing apparatus jsaidi elevation being partlybroken away .toshow details of construction.

in such an apparatus,- without departing ion b i t"mives at .the bottom of th'c' iheat Fig. 2 is a rear View of the lower part of v. Fig. 4 is a detail section taken Fig. 3 is a detail" section taken on the 1II'III ofFig, 1; and" r on the line W51? of 1'.

which projects up through the furnace brick-work 2, and similarly extends down through the bottom plate 3; the preferably enlarged lower end 1 of said retort being seated in themouth of the feed-table casing 4., i V i A gas-tight seal at the lower end of the V retort: is'ferined by compressinga packing ofgkieselguhr or othersuitable material 7 around the outer :wall'of said retortg by 'ineans'of an annular casting 6. 7'

a f The preferably continuously moving cliargefi, -is-"fed into the l'iopper-s, and portion after"portion thereof drops gradually;

andsucces'sively down tl irough the pre-heating sect on of the retortuntil 1t e'ntersthe reaction zon'e with 'n the heated chamber 9;

i after which it is cooled somewhatin the en l'arged section f1',"before entering theiqasg 4 The "chemistry of the reaction'needn'ot be here. further considered other-than to state that int'the"preferred-methods of conducting "the operationfthe charge. is composed of briquets, theiingredients of which maybe,

for example, sodium carbonate;, pulverized coke-,bharcoal; or like and finely ron. vNitr ;en issupphed to this charge in the mannenh'ereinafter described, so that at a-temperature of, say 1000 G.,the f the .coke or charcoal is caused to unite with the-free nitrogen and with sodium sup the" sodium" carbonate,- to form, (hid; This reaction ispreferably effected 'catalytically 1 through the} interniediacy of the iron; and by: the" time that a given ZoneQ itFiS'normally highly cyaniz'ed.

During' their' progress through 'the v 'heat I zone the-cyanid present in the briquets is normally molten, large part, but i as the 1 oyanlzed mater al enters the cooling SQOlJlOIl .14 {it fluid contents commences to congal;

" with the result that'bythe 'timesuchf'mater I rial enters the casing l,

\ p it has setinto a a tsi' s' d99 mm'" e r r A wary. ta e 1 n h e in up o ts Th res d we fb h-i We" i a star 111; having" three points or arms andf p h alin o f ie s sr star is flooselyflp'ivoted upon theupper s face of table 10, with its axis of rotation 12 eccentric to that ofthe table, as shown in Fig. 3, wherein the location of the shaft l3-which supports said table, is indicated by a dotted circle a Shaft 13 is suitably journaled in bushings I is of course secured to the Shaft-IQ-andthe' pawl 21 '1S carrled on'an arm 22 *p1voted on shaft 19, in a known fashion p 15 disposed -respectivelyxin the base The apparatus preferably comprises a l' 8- tort 1, of ironor vother suitable material,

The shaft 19 'isgj ouinaled 1n the yoke 16" a and in a bearing 23 attached to onesideof the 'h pperQ-l', which maycon-veniently be made a part ofthe base platelet.

The" hopper 24; receives {the fragments nipped ofl or detached from the charge, and

deliversthem to a cooling; tank 25'. This tank is preferably, what may betermed,

-flat?,beingquite narrow in proportion r "to its breadth and depth, as shown in Figs. p -1 and 2; so that'it alfordsa very extensive V i' "surface,,in proportion to ts volume or eu'bt I cal" content, to permit of'air or water s-cooling and coohng by-rad ation. i

v A It may be here'noted that themat'erialto" be cooled is a 'elatlvelypoor conductor of 1 heat but by thus providing a large'-flatf tank, the distance from the most interiorly disposed point in the mass to be cooled, to the exposed cooling surface 'need not over two or three inches. The tankis also preftheresult; that the" temperature of the ma "erably tapered towar the bottom,as Shown; 'to' still further reduce said distance,

" In the construction" given byway-fofillus- V tration, a bearing bracket *Z'Tis mounted upon one side ofgth e tank,andkhas jourf naled therein "whereas; one 'end' of which carries an eccentric29; and the other endi a sprocket wheel '30 'or the like; A r'od;3l'ffl 3 I arfmf22; so that 'a' s'the sliaft 2-8 is rotated connects the eccentric strap 29'." with the the wheel 30, rod-3 1 oscillates the {arm 22,

to cause the pawl 2l ito step thematchet 7 wheel around wher by tocause a correspondl i ss' ee y enb i m s w 're -l' f nibtrailer the feed tab-lei as min; are '1 a the eccentricity of' tl i retirees es ate wii'ntb r 1 p starf 11*w1th1res ect ,7 t a v t warran s; 6 1 toenable theieharge in theretort-to'gial l v 1 05 terial drawn front valve'ae at the lewer -endiof said tank is nonnally. but very 1 little T above that of the surrounding atmosphere.

no r

(cooled asshown.

prevented from idly rotating in. its retort;

as is apt to do where the table itself carries the teeth and has its axis icoihcideht .with that of a cylindrical,retort.

The tank preferably has a capacity two or three times that of the retort, when' air Air is excluded from the tank and of course from the casing 4 and retort, to prevent the oxidation of thecy'anid formed, to cyanate; and for this and other reasons hereinafter noted, nitrogen is introduced into the bottom of the tank through. a fpipe 32; the flow of gasjbeing controlledby means of yalVe33. The nitrogen current flows up through the tank, between the interstices of the briquets or charge fragments, aiding in cooling said fragments and in turn being preheated by Contact with them. I

the time that it entersthe casingjt and passes thence through thev laterally unsupported walls of the rigid briquet column, into retort section l, it is quite hot; but

' still of course below the melting ,point of cyanidj 'As' it thereafter traverses the pores and intersticesof thebriqueted charge, it is gradually raised to the reaction temperature, while again in turn aiding in cooling the descending cyanized charge, to cause any.

liquid present in the latter to congeal or solidify.

The valve.26 at the lower end of the cooling receptacle, is preferably a one-way cock,

as shown in Fig. 4;; having therein a pocket 26 so that when it is, for example, continu ously rotated, this pocket is alternately filled and emptied at every revolution.

Preferably this valve is driven slowlyby means of a sprocket and chain drive; shaft 19 having feathered on one end a clutch 3st which when operatively disposed causes said shaft to drive a sprocket wheel 35, which in turn actuates a chain 36 to drive a sprocket wheel 37 mounted on'a trunnion 38 of said valve 26. Normally, of course, before the clutch is thrown to cause valve 26 to rotate, a receiving can 39 is placed in. position below the valve casing 40. V

The general operation of the apparatus may now be briefly reviewed.

Assuming that the retort is charged with briquets andthat itsQheat-zone section has attained the proper temperature, the sup? ply of heating being maintained by the flow of hot gases through the furnace in the direction of the arrows, the charge will then gradually move down through the retort,

each briquet being first-preheated by the as cending gaseous reaction products.

Thereafter each briquet will, in turn, be

cyanized and then pass into the cooling section 1', .where its liquid content will congeal; I In so doing. the briquets in said section will adhere together to form a rather rigid structure, which will be sustained by the rotating table and will in turn sustain the remainder of the charge. in the retort. The laterally self-sustaining character of this briquet structure permits the nitrogen flowing through the casing 41-, to gain free access to the interior of the column, from all sides of the latter and thence up to the reaction zone. 7

The rotation of the table causes the teeth and other abradingparts of the eccentrically pivoted staror cutter to bite ofl pieces from the bottom of the column, and these loose fragments are gradually worked off the table and fall through the hopper 24 into the cooling tank;there being no lateral sup ports around the lower end of the column Meanwhile the charge in the retort is renewed so as to maintainsaid retort substan tially full; and'if the reaction gases be not collected as they emerge from the hopper 8, they will burn at this point.

It has been found most convenient and practicable, however. to make no attempt to recover these gases: the hopper 8 being left open to permit of the free introduction of the charge.

The substantially cold briouets in the lower end of the tank are withdrawn. from time to time or continuously. as desired. and especially in the latter mode of operation, is it desirable to provide some means, such asthe valve26 and its associated parts. to prevent wastage of-the nitrogen supplied to the retort; or. even worse. such an outflow of both cooled briquets and nitrogen from the receptacle 25. as might tend to create a backward flow of nitrogen not only throunh the cooling tank. but even downwardly through the retort; since in such case free atmos heric oxygen would also flow down fromthe open upper end of said retort.

I may add. that I have found it advantageous to thus supply nitrogen to the bottom of the cooling receptacle. in order to more efficiently and economically cool the briquets while at the same time conserving much of the-heat of which they are deprived.

In conclusion. I desire to point out that the herein described method is, in certain of its as ects, especiallv concerned with the turning to advantage in several ways, of

7 what otherwise would tend to give rise to fixation of n itrogen. I refer here mgxrepgu; ti l sn y to the "chi ng n ong almg 0f ia boYe npted; has been favored in controiled qqndit p siz n util ze it aid-in the/" u s Letters f 'Patent, Sepiali Number n? mdt'file t Apri 6, 9 8; "th present W b n i sio fo Sai Pa nt app a ifln- "Having tlnis desci ibed my invention,-

x lv'h atl claim is: v I v 1. "The method of QfiiBQtI IIgQZL "l-e'qctlon be tween, nm e ml ngthe gas ous pha .zmd

solid phase, which cpmp risesr s0 disposing e ast menti le m ter al 1 t P v de nters ises th ugh' mass he eof, isupply= ilig heat to said mass from a source, oi-fthe same, flowing saidjlnfater igtl in thelgaseous Phase hre g sa d inte st es to 'cdm iinet 8 l iQn hQ i6Q wi hmatelria i said;

:1 o form qmp' whic -tends to l quefy,

'at the temperature to which said heat d, .c@u ng.@ m vment of J. I with sa dpomld nd, fihem n, may tfrqm th V s mfceeowfhee y-whil cQ illg saidkma ssuifii ient yto' cause said ompound to congeal 1,

"l entfprepam i i of the" Qya ize mate a The disclost remadeherein wss'ol i gintlly "presented 'in uly application foil 'United S at s 2305876 entitled Gyanid p roducing' a-pparaa-ndbindthe nms$in whiqhiti preseflt intol r V V V 35 f wucture toifm en s QQHQQi QgEQl 7 f a ment and ,oQ lingnthm tal emp rw a subst ntia ly rig d kst ulQtllmi r ducing .11 16 at which Lsaid qompgund "is .sub iti in fragments;

b a @Ii bM J- O "f ms cyan gen: 1m-

coinpo'u d therein, riwh byf to bind said tielly iiwxidizable by passing reli 'Pively-eold nitrggen, threugh. "the; mass c ql leeted mass into a ,liigid ppmus strugture capable,

said laterally uIlSLlPPoTte tion, for movement through I pb IfeS tithe l t e upto id the eate zeactiQ z n-r nfthepresenqe ftwo Witnesses;

n tmg n :ii Q

" mass WILLI M; DIMQTINT' if 

